


Flowers of the Brightest Hue

by nameless_wanderer



Series: Losing Faith Supplements [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi, hanahaki, hanahaki disease au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 22:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14122374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nameless_wanderer/pseuds/nameless_wanderer
Summary: It started with Cadence. It was such an innocent laugh, joyous and and contagious, stemming from Coda's joke. Then the laughing turned to coughing. And right before their eyes, Cadence coughed up several flower petals.(Hanahaki au for Losing Faith to trick my dumbass into writing more)





	Flowers of the Brightest Hue

Faith woke up with a sigh, feeling well-rested and ready for whatever the day had waiting for her.

“Disney princesses _wish_ they got this kind of sleep,” she murmured, getting out of bed. Things were fine, for once in her life. She had the entire day free, the entire day to do whatever the hell she wanted. This naturally meant discussing the plans of the day with her friends before they either went to the mall, stopping for dinner at Slice of Life (they always debated where to go, but they always ended up there), or else just each stayed home watching TV. It sounded like a good day to her. She got ready for the day, showering and humming a little tune to herself. She didn’t rush herself, she did what she needed to do in the right amount of time. By the time she was fully ready and went to her computer, there was already a video chat ongoing. She smirked as she clicked the button to join.

“–always do that. Can’t we do something different for once?” Coda’s voice rang through.

“Hey guys!” Faith announced nonchalantly to the chat. She was greeted by the faces of Cadence, Coda, and Katherine as they accepted her into the chat. “What’d I miss?”

Katherine rolled her eyes. “Coda wants to do something other than go to the mall. I told him we’re gonna end up discussing it for a half an hour and decide to do the same thing anyway.”

“I’m just saying there has to be something we can do!” Coda said, exasperated.

“The mall is like, the only place we can hang out,” Cadence argued.

Faith tilted her head. “Hey, where’s Viola?” Cadence rotated the camera to show she was sitting on the couch right next to him. She did a peace sign at Faith, reflexively. “And the other two not-siblings?”

“June’s still in her room, prolly getting over that cold she had. Chris is around somewhere, prolly the kitchen.”

“And Jacqueline?”

“Still sleeping, last I checked.”

“Cool, cool,” Faith replied.

“Where’s Christ’an?” Viola questioned from offscreen.

“Downstairs, I think. He was always more of an early riser than me.” The others nodded in agreement. Faith decided to try to get the conversation back on track. “I have to admit, I’d love to do something else today, but I legit can’t actually think of anything that we really could do.”

“We could stop by a music store!” offered Coda. “I can show off my music puns!”

“Oh please,” Katherine protested, “your puns suck.”

“So you’re saying that my music puns are nothing but–”

“Don’t you dare,” Katherine warned.

“ _Treble?_ ” The others laughed at the stupidity of the joke, groaning and hanging their head.

“You’re an idiot,” Cadence said before laughing. As the laughter of the others died down, Cadence’s transformed into something more serious. The others watched, concerned as he began coughing loudly, covering his hands with his mouth. Abruptly, it stopped. Cadence shook his head. “Sorry guys, I had something stuck in the back of my throat.”

“Don’t die on us now, Cadence,” Faith joked. But Cadence didn’t notice. He was staring at something in his hands. He slowly looked up and hesitantly showed the camera two saliva-covered flower petals.

“What the f…” Katherine mumbled. The others looked on, confused. Coda chuckled at the situation, slightly uneasy.

“We knew you like flowery language, Cadence, but this is just ridiculous,” he japed. This received a big laugh from all of them. But Cadence’s laughter, once happy and comforting, once more transformed into a series of poorly covered coughs. And this time, all saw as Cadence turned his head to the side and coughed up a flower petal into his closed fist. The mood of the call changed in an instant.

“You all saw that, right?” Katherine asked, concerned. The others nodded as Cadence began coughing again. Viola picked up the phone.

“We should probably go.” With that, she hung up the voice call and it was just Coda, Katherine and Faith.

“Ok, what the hell was that?” Katherine asked, concerned.

“I dunno…” Faith said. Her phone rang, and she received a text from Viola.

> **Viola**
> 
> Mind bringing over some moral support?

“Viola is asking for moral support for Cadence, I guess.”

“I still gotta get ready,” Katherine said.

“I’ve got chores, but I might make it over later,” Coda sheepishly admitted.

“You two are useless. I’ll call Colton. Maybe he’ll have some sage wisdom to offer.”

“Sounds good.”

“You’ll make sure he’s ok, right Faith?” Katherine asked, worried.

“Honestly, I’m as clueless as you guys, but I’m gonna do what I can to help him. Check back with you later.”

“Cool.”

“Sounds good.”

“Bye,” Faith said, hanging up on the call. She grabbed her phone and scrolled through the contacts. She knew she should really text, but sometimes a phone conversation just felt better to her. She picked out Colton’s number and hit the call button.

“...Hello?”

“Hey Colton.”

“Faith! Whaddup? We doin’ the usual today?”

“Slight change of plans, we’re needed at the BQ’s for moral support.”

“Oh, is June still sick?”

“Not for that. We were just in a video call with Cadence and he started coughing.”

“So now the disease is spreading?”

“Maybe. He coughed up what looked like flower petals though?”

“...Flower petals?”

“Yeah, how ridiculous, right? Like, what’s he been eating?”

“Gimme ten minutes, I’ll be over.” Faith didn’t even get to say bye before he hung up. She shrugged, grabbing her things from the room and rushing downstairs. She passed Christ’an who was sitting in front of the TV, watching some show.

“Hey, kid,” she said affectionately in passing.

“Where are you off to in such a rush?” Christ’an asked, curious. Christ’an was always curious.

“The BQ’s place. Cadence has come down with some kind of mystery illness or something.”

Christ’an moved to stand up. “Should I come too?” Faith thought about it.

“I mean, you could if you want. I don’t think I’ll be gone long, and I’ll be back before we do go anywhere. But feel free to finish watching TV.”

“Ok, good, because I’m actually hooked on this episode.” Faith laughed as she waved and walked out the door. The BQ only lived a few blocks away from Faith. They all lived quite close to each other, actually. The only ones who lived outside the neighborhood were Colton and Jacqueline– at least, where she _used_ to live. A few minutes of brisk walking and she was outside the ridiculously large house. She decided to wait at the front door for Colton, so they could head in together. He was there within a matter of minutes. She waved as he rushed out of the car and towards the front door.

“Sorry, I got here as quick as I could.”

Faith shrugged. “No worries. I only got here a few minutes ago.”

“How is he?”

“I thought we could head in together. You know, double the moral support!”

“Well, let’s not waste any time.” Colton reached for the door, and Faith was surprised to see it was unlocked. The two walked through the house, freezing when they saw Cadence, hunched over and coughing up copious amounts of flower petals. Christopher was leaning over next to him, trying to comfort and help him.

“You’re ok, Cadence.” Chris looked up and relief washed over his face. “Look who’s here, dude! It’s Faith and Colton.”

“We came to check on you!” Faith said, putting a smile on her face.

“Sorry… I don’t know what’s…” Cadence said, struggling to regain his breath.

“It’s ok,” Colton said, “why don’t you go get a glass of water from the bathroom? Regain your breathing, and if it happens again, you won’t have to risk the clean-up.” Cadence nodded, using Chris to help him stand up and wiping his mouth as he made his way to the bathroom. Chris motioned to the two of them to follow him to the kitchen.

“Guys, I’m freaking out,” Chris admitted, running a hand through his hair.

“Wait, where’s Viola?” Faith asked, confused.

“She excused herself shortly after… that!”

“I saw it happen on the video chat. He just started coughing and flower petals came out of his mouth.”

“What the hell is that?!” Chris asked, worried.

“Hanahaki,” Colton mumbled in a deep voice. The other two looked towards him, confused. “It’s called Hanahaki. Literally ‘vomiting flowers’ in japanese. The flowers are a psychosomatic manifestation.”

Faith shook her head. “What does that mean?”

“It means that his body isn’t just producing flowers, they’re a manifestation of a specific emotional state.”

“What emotional state?” Chris asked, curious.

Colton sighed. “Fear of unrequited love.” Faith almost burst out laughing. The explanation was ridiculous.

“That… that doesn’t make any sense.”

“He’s vomiting flowers, Faith, what about that makes any sense?” Colton asked, defensive.

“Ok, so unrequited love,” Chris said, commanding the other two to turn towards him. “Is that all? Why now all of a sudden?”

“Usually it’s triggered by strong feelings or fantasies in a given moment. Tune out those thoughts and you’re good for the time being. It usually comes back though.”

“Is there any way to cure it?” Chris asked.

“The only way to permanently cure it is to have the growth surgically removed. But it’s expensive. And risky.”

“Risky how?”

“Risky as in if you don’t die, which happens a terrifying amount of the time, you may never love anybody ever again.”

“Jesus Christ…” Chris muttered.

“Ok, but that’s the only _permanent_ cure. Is there any way to temporarily cure it?”

Colton sighed. “Yeah, but it doesn’t guarantee it won’t come back later and most people don’t like the method.”

“Which is?” Faith asked impatiently.

“Emotional honesty.” Chris leaned back and took a deep breath.

“Oh no.” Colton nodded. “You mean he’s gotta tell the person that he likes? Guys, this is Cadence. Do you understand how…” Chris sighed.

“What’s the problem?” Faith asked, confused.

“I love Cadence, but he’s the least emotionally honest person I know. He doesn’t just lie to others about his feelings, he lies to _himself_. He refuses to accept he _has_ a crush at all, much less who it’s on.”

“Well, he has to, or else...or else he could choke on the flowers.”

“Colton…” Faith started, hesitantly, “how do you know all this?”

He shrugged. “Once upon a time, I had the Hanahaki disease.”

“Wait, do you mean…”

“No, Faith, this was before Jacqueline. Musta been… middle school? I was talking to a friend I really, _really_ liked and I started coughing up a storm. I thought I was gonna die. I went to urgent care and the doctor gave me the options. It was an easy choice after thinking I was gonna die.”

“Did your friend…?”

Colton shook his head. “We stayed friends, but it was kinda awkward, knowing I almost died because of my stupid romantic feelings. It’s just as well anyways, it was only a year later or so that I met Jacqueline.”

“Waitwaitwait, wait, wait,” Faith said, “you said it manifested as a fear of unrequited feelings. But the flowers disappeared after finding out that your feelings _were_ unrequited.”

“Yeah, it’s the fear more than anything else. Even if they don’t feel the same, emotional honesty allows the flowers to dissolve harmlessly.”

“Ok. Good to know,” Chris surmised. “Anything else we should know about this thing?”

“Um… I only did a bit of research at the time. The doctor asked if I had seen anybody else cough up the flowers or if I knew about it? I think he said it’s empathetic.”

Christopher nodded with dawning understanding. “So seeing the disease in action, or even just knowing about it puts you at risk of contracting it.”

“I think? Like I said, I didn’t do much research at the time. But are you guys doing good?”

Faith nodded. “No sore throat or need to cough.”

“And you know me,” Chris said. “I think we’re…” Christ stopped mid-sentence and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Viola. Viola left the room.”

“What about June?” Faith asked, concerned.

“No, she was sick before. She didn’t see him, not yet anyways.”

“Did anybody else see Cadence?” Colton asked, concerned.

“I mean the rest of us on the video chat,” Faith replied, anxiety mounting.

“Jesus Christ, ok so that’s Christ’an–”

“No, not them. They were downstairs watching TV. It was just Coda and Katherine.”

“Alright,” Colton said, forming a plan. “Faith, call Coda, I’ll call Katherine, Chris, start researching. There’s not a moment to lose.”


End file.
